s far as years for Video Games go, 2018 wasn’t that bad. For starters, the distribution landscape received a culture shock with the innovative premise of Xbox Gamespass, Sony landed some truly blockbuster exclusives for the PlayStation 4, and Nintendo managed to plant a Switch in over 22.86 Million households since its launch.

2018 wasn’t the best year for a God awful lot of reasons, but we can all take solace in the fact that at least in terms of video games, it did pretty OK, and we would love to celebrate that that.

And what better way to do that by bringing you our trademark Game of the Year podcast, The Golden Zonkies! This year also marks the first time that we have changed up our format for the special mega cast—we’re doing away with categories! Now, bear in mind, we’re still giving our prestigious mark of excellence, a Golden Zonkey, to the games that are deserving of recognition, only, we’re not doing by a respective genre, or category. Instead, we will be giving them out in a personal list format by each of us in the podcast, and we’ll be spending time discussing why we picked the titles we did within a countdown of five, and before we even get into that, we’ll also do a roundtable of games that were worth a quick mention from the year. We will then award the “Golden Zonkey of The Year” in a unanimous vote that was similar to previous format, and conclude the show from there.

There you have it; welcome to the latest class of the Golden Zonkies, we hope you kick back and enjoy the show!

ne of the most challenging aspects of a Superhero-driven Video Game is to emulate what it would be like for players to assume the role of said Superhero authentically. The wall-crawling teenager of comic book fame, Spider-Man, has had a storied, and admittedly mixed history of accomplishments in the gaming space, and it many of the Web-Head’s more recent titles had left the impression that he had finally peaked in terms of gaming.

But then Insomniac came along with an open-world approach that borrowed heavily from RockSteady’s Batman Arkham series—one that emphasizes frenetic movement that relies on all of the character flourishes that Spider-Man offered them, packed into a story-driven narrative that would push the character-action genre to the next level.

Marvel’s Spider-Man isn’t just a must-play for PlayStation 4 owners—it’s one of the most important games of this generation.

fter The success of both Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza 6: The Song of Life on the PlayStation 4, it was no surprise that SEGA had announced to Weekly Famitsu Magazine that it was planning to re-release the entire series of the mega-hit property onto the PlayStation 4. Yakuza Kiwami 2 is the latest entry to spear-head the effort shortly after the release of Yakuza 6, an update to the second entry of the franchise, and the last one to have released on the PlayStation 2 before Yakuza had made the transition to the PlayStation 3 years later.

In what may arguably be the strangest title of the lineup in contrast to the spin-offs and seventh-generation entries, SEGA didn’t pull any punches in ensuring that Yakuza Kiwami 2 captured all of the wacky narratives and tongue-in-cheek writing of the original game. This PlayStation 4 remaster brings it all together with the new Dragon game engine that was introduced in Yakuza 6, and an assortment of other enhancements that make the trip back to the Kamurocho the best one yet.

fter multiple showcases at conventions, and a buzzworthy trailer debut during Microsoft’s keynote at E3 that was soon followed by a number of delays, We Happy Few has finally out on store shelves. Not only did the latest first-person narrative adventure from Compulsion Games have some lofty expectations to live up to, but it also had to stand out within a year that had so many high-pedigree releases like God of War, Red Dead Redemption 2, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and so many more.

Regardless of the imposing odds that lay before it though, We Happy Few, unfortunately, falls under the weight of its own ambitions, and quickly devolves into one of the worst releases seen in 2018.

n somewhat of an ironic twist, one of the fondest memories I have with video games from my childhood isn’t a video game that I played on my television, but a show that I watched on my television about video games. As the 16-bit boom kicked off the nineties, Nickelodeon debuted Nick Arcade—a new game show that embraced the gimmickry of its video aesthetic with the grace of cat walking along a floor made of bubble-wrap.

While the show has only gotten hokier with age, it was vital for a Challenge segment that showcased some of the hottest new games in action on my television screen, something no issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly or GamePro could ever do, and one of those games was Toki: Going Ape Spit.

In a climate that was undeniably overwhelmed with action-platformers, Toki managed to stand out from all of the other classics that were lined up for the show with its bizarrely unattractive, yet colorfully sharp visuals, and surprisingly delicate balance of action and strategy for an arcade shooter. Decades later, the lumbering primate has suddenly slouched his way back into 2018 with a remastered remake of the arcade classic that mostly considered to be vaporware at this point, until the development of it was taken over, and then released by a French developer and publisher Microïds.

'm disappointed in all of you. every, single, one, of, you. None of y'all thought I'd like to know Earth Defense Force 5 was even coming out in North America? Like, really?—I mean, really?! Well, I hustled and this review is damn well happening because... EDF! EDF! EDF!!

You may remember the last time we took a look an EDF game here on PPR. I was at the helm of that one as well: the PS3's EDF 2025 (EDF 4 in Japan.) As far as North American releases go, I have them all. There's never one I miss. You might say I'm a fan. After all, I notoriously jump at the chance to play any new EDF stuff, and it turns out, Earth Defense Force 5 is no exception. So how is it? Let's (wing-)dive in!

et it be known that in this episode, George admits that Ninja Theory is alright. I just wanted to make sure everyone knows that before we get into anything else. In this episode of Press Pause Radio, our crew discusses all the news and information from the month of November, such as the passing of Stan Lee, the release of Red Dead Redemption 2 and Detective Pikachu. The group also finds out about the difference between vacation and holiday according to Peppa Pig before going into our featured topic which is the state of E3. With more and more companies leaving to put on their own showcase, does the gaming industry need something like the Electronic Entertainment Expo? We weigh in on this topic and much more. Please let us know what you think about E3 and what we can expect from the industry next year. We appreciate everyone taking the time to check out the show and encourage you all to stay tuned for more!

et’s begin with the obvious point right out of the gate, this game looks like Ghosts ‘n Goblins. Actually no, that’s wrong. I know I will get corrected by retro gamers far more knowledgeable of the genre so I already did an internet search and discovered that its aesthetic is more like Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts. I never played those games, mostly because of the reputation the titles have earned as some of the most difficult games ever made. Fortunately, Battle Princess Madelyn allows fans both old and new to experience action platforming with superior gameplay and a challenging Arcade mode. Sadly, these attempts are muddled and obscured with a literal lack of direction, and a vague Story mode that seems like more of an afterthought than a priority.